Make sure you move to the next step as the garlic gets fragrant and browns. Add two sliced scallions and six cloves of garlic, minced. Get about three tablespoons of vegetable oil going hot in a wok. Mix all that goodness up, and get it ready to dump on a moment’s notice. Ignore him, and add some flavor to your dinner.Ģ Tablespoons of Tamarind Paste (not teaspoons, Tablespoons, capital T) 2 Tablespoons of sugar, the white kind that gives you cancer A healthy squirt of Sriracha - like a Tablespoon, but you can add more or less 2 Tablespoons of fish sauce Mark Bittman would just as soon have you meditate while sitting on a salt pillar in the wilderness while subsisting on sand and vapor. Strain them, and cover them with cold water until you’re ready to throw them in the wok. At somewhere between 10–12 minutes, they should be perfect. At about six or seven minutes, pick one out and try it. Put a sheaf of rice noodles (most packages have two) in a shallow heat-resistant dish or pie plate and cover them with boiling water. Overcook them like Bittman wants you to and they suck, they basically liquefy. Undercook them like the package says and you’re totally hosed for life. Slice ’em up into thinish chunks that will suit your fancy. Saute them in a pan with some oil and butter until they’re nicely browned on both sides and just cooked through. Pound them flat if you like (or don’t.) Marinate for an hour in soy sauce if you want (I think it helps.) I threw out the tofu and birch sticks or whatever he was using for protein in this recipe and added chicken to my Pad Thai recipe because I enjoy eating and food. Liberating, right?īittman hates chicken but I like it. Bittman wants you to make a “thin egg crepe of sorts” but seriously, nobody should have time for that bullshit. It’s challenging to fuck this up, just scramble some eggs. I don’t claim to have a monopoly on the truth, but I have a monopoly on a truth that I like.

Paying close attention to the individual parts of the meal helps result in a better finished product, but it’s also a pain in the ass that creates a lot of dishes. Fuck You, Mark Bittman: A Pad Thai RecipeĪs I make it, Pad Thai is more of an assemblage than a coherent dish.

Mark bittman pad thai